The American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP) has been providing technical assistance since 2005 with a broader objective of strengthening the national public health laboratory services to support HIV/AIDS, TB, malaria, opportunistic and sexually transmitted infections, care and treatment programs. ASCP introduced the CD4, Chemistry and hematology training package into the Ethiopian laboratory system years ago and now the program has been rolled out to many facilities. Through ASCP's continued support, there are now enough local trainers in country both at national and regional levels on these disciplines which has been central to addressing the high turnover of trained staff. The systematic and rapid expansion of training programs in this regard has been very crucial for expansion of laboratory monitoring services for patients on ART and for base line assessment of pre-ART patients. The activities contribute to the health system by strengthening laboratory capabilities and service decentralization for better access for the needy.

For long term and sustainable development of the laboratory workforce, ASCP is working with the laboratory schools to standardize training curricula and strengthen the teaching-learning process. Five major local universities have benefited from this program and the support will continue by including more laboratory schools. The process includes mentorship workshops on curriculum creation and revision and teaching methodology, and technical assistance at the schools in order to work closely with current faculty as they implement revised curricula and develop their capacity. This activity has been critical to address future laboratory personnel shortages and helped the laboratory workforce joining the service each year to be well versed on integrated laboratory services. In the long term, this will reduce the time spent on several refresher trainings for the laboratory personnel joining the service from the laboratory schools. The support also addresses transitional plans as improving the educational systems equips the laboratory cadres to work independently within the country to improve laboratory services.

ASCP provides technical assistance for in-service training, standardization and accreditation of laboratory services which has been stated as top priority in the EHNRI's national laboratory strategic plan. Technical assistance provided to prepare the national reference laboratory for accreditation enabled the national reference laboratory to implement the minimum quality standards and the laboratory is now ready for the initial assessment for international accreditation. The process helped the country program to gain experience generally on the laboratory accreditation process and Ethiopia is now in the process of implementing the WHO/AFRO accreditation scheme for hospital and regional laboratories. Assisting laboratories to reach accreditation goals improves diagnostic services and will strengthen laboratory capabilities. Ethiopia has also shown commitment for the materialization of the Maputo report recommendations ASCP has started dialogue with EHNRI and CDC how to support EHNRI in the implementation and coordination of the guidelines recommended in the report. Full implementation of the Maputo recommendation will be important for standardization of laboratory services and equipment platform and maintenance services and ASCP's contribution in this regard will be crucial for local capacity development. To achieve these broad objectives, ASCP will work very closely with EHNRI, CDC and other implementing partners and their scope of work will be revised in country in line with the needs assessment. In addition, ASCP will develop specific monitoring and evaluation processes for all the laboratory support activities in Ethiopia.

ASM maintains no in-country presence and works in tandem with local CDC laboratory personnel who are co-located in EHNRI, thereby maximizing efficiency in terms of cost and having technical assistance appropriately targeted in advance.

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